Works

A Brief Statement on Praxis and These Works

This page contains samples of my work as both actor and academic. My process as an actor, which began in the Acting for Stage and Screen program and has continued to grow and evolve through my experience in the industry, has greatly informed my approach to my studies upon returning to Capilano to complete my BA major in Interdisciplinary Studies. I came to realize that every discipline is telling its own story. Art History will tell you stories about artists, their work, how the socio-political contexts of their time informed their work, how it is viewed now compared to how it was viewed then. Biology will tell you stories of the functions of cells, the building blocks of life, converting nutrients to energy, working together to maintain life. Sociology is the story of the structures within which we interact with one another, it tells us about the value systems that function to shape our beliefs, interactions, tastes, and priorities. Economics will tell you stories of production, consumption, and trade, which systems are good, which systems are bad, and why our current one is by far the best for sure no question. And so on, and so on.

My process, then, became to approach these concepts and ideas as if I were learning the script of a play I was hired to do. When analyzing a script, I’m looking for clues that will reveal something about a character, or the world in which the play is set. I consider what is said, the specifics of phrasing and punctuation. I consider what is being left unsaid and why. I consider what motivates characters, what their intentions are. I consider historical, political, and socio-economic contexts of the play and how these factors shape each character and their interactions with one another. I withhold judgment and find a way to understand and connect to them regardless of how abhorrent I find their words and actions (or how awkward and clunky I find these words due to poor writing, which happens too often). I found that this process of close reading leant itself well to critically thinking about and analyzing materials and ideas across disciplines. In approaching my studies in this way, I was able to find academic success, not only in the arbitrary form of a letter grade, but more importantly because I was learning about topics that truly interested me by engaging with them in a manner that I was confident and comfortable with. As storyteller would; with artistry and empathy.

This page contains a demo reel of my professional work, as well as a supercut demo reel of samples of other work I have done at Capilano and beyond. There are also three academic projects attached. The first two, A Critical Analysis of AI Bias and the Legacy of Emily Carr and Infantilization and Romanticization of Indigenous Peoples in the Victoria Daily Times, are critical analysis essays that investigate AI and early 20th Century media bias against Indigenous peoples respectively. The Victoria Daily Times article is also provided for reference. The third project, Sa[l]vaged is a poster created about the Salvage Paradigm of the late 19th to early 20th century and the rematriation of the Wilps Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole to the Nisga’a Nation.